Big trip in the planning

[Mairs]

Hi all,

I'm new to this site tho I've put in my 2 bobs worth over the last week in some of the threads. My partner & I have a much loved 08 D40 called Li'l Smokey. She's a beast, there's no 2 ways about it, & I sometimes hum that old Queen song...I'm in love with my car....

My partner n me are in the throes of planning our big trip. We were supposed to leave yesterday but have been stuffed around by bloody estate agents down here who seemed to forget that we wanted to rent out our house. When I ph & get asked...who? you know it's time to move onto a new agent which we're doing & hopefully can get away from the cold weather here in Colac asap.

So the car's ready to go...we've spent big bucks on this girl & sometimes it's hard to know when to stop...apart from when the moolah runs out. Would still like a car kit for the mobile with a tall aerial but that will have to wait for the next injection of cash.

The camper trailer's waiting for us to sort & pack the remainder of our stuff into it....& the house is half packed.

We have a daughter in Darwin & another in Cairns who we want to visit & lob in on for a while. We don't have a destination or waypoints in mind so much, more like we'll go where I can get work. Being a nurse work used to be a given but not anymore, things are tough incl hospital budgets, so at the moment putting myself out there to see what I can find. Darwin is an option.

Wayne is into gold detecting which is more miss than hit & we spend a lot of our free time exploring various state forests & have come across some mean tracks through the Otways & another nice one in Enfield.

We bought a Cub Supavan Stockman last Feb. Our budget initially started at $8000, then $18000, then $24000, then.....the salesman said we could think about it , took me a couple of mins to decide it was for us. The criteria for a CT was it had to be a hard floor, easy & quick to set up, could take a comfortable mattress I could sleep on without being crippled in the morning with back probs, & could live in comfortably for 2 yrs+. It was a given the Supavan ticked all the boxes.

People we know ask us when we plan to come back, we say...maybe never

 

[Kingy89]

Well goo luck on the trip you definately have thr gith truck for the job it s a nissan and een better its a Navara. Enjoy remember to post up pic of place of interest and some of these mean tracks you encounter.

 

[Mairs]

Here's one for a start Kingy...Depperts Track Beech Forest. We all had to be winched out a couple of times

 

[Kingy89]

B E A U T I F U L.... What a start to a big trip. I am so Jelious right about now. Very nice keep them coming.

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome!

My wife and I have some big trips planned, but nothing like that. Just a run to Uluru again, we want to do Birdsville, and a run from Byron Bay NSW to Denham WA. We'll also go over the top, around the bottom and everywhere in between - over the next several years.

One tip about renting your house: if the tenant goes out of contract to a month-by-month, you have to give them 3 months notice (in NSW) to get them out of the house. Word is that in NSW that might become 4 months in the future. Not sure what the law is in Victoria.

 

[Mairs]

Tony, we'll let an agent handle it while we're away I think. Too difficult to do privately if we're way up in Darwin. The agent said the contract puts them on a 3 month lease, then 6 mths then a year...if they behave themselves. As we'll be away for at least 2 yrs it could be quite long term for them. Somehow it would just be easier to sell Millstone Manor but houses sell very slowly in our country town & time isn't on our side, & we also have a built in veranda/annex on the side of the house where we'll store all our possessions & if we sold then we'd have to pay the extra for storage or else sell it all & I'd really hate to let some of my beautiful antique furniture go. If we did have to move back we'd rent out of town for the duration of the lease & access our belongings from the annex under a prior agreement with the tenant.